Appellate Mandate

Appellate Mandate

Drafts the formal order issued by an appellate court concluding the appeal and directing the trial court to implement the appellate decision.

Prerequisites

Gather before drafting:

1. Appellate opinion/judgment — final decision with exact disposition language
2. Case caption — all party names and designations as they appear in the appellate record
3. Case numbers — both appellate and trial court docket numbers
4. Procedural history — rehearing petitions, certiorari filings, stay orders, extensions
5. Remand instructions — specific directives from the opinion on scope of further proceedings

Output Structure

1. Caption & Identification

2. Incorporation of Decision

• Attach or incorporate certified copy of the appellate opinion/judgment
• Reference by case name, court, date, and reporter citation if published

3. Directive Section

Standard formulation matching actual disposition:

IT IS ORDERED that the judgment of the [trial court] is [AFFIRMED / REVERSED / REVERSED AND REMANDED / MODIFIED / DISMISSED].

For remands, specify with particularity:

Extract and incorporate verbatim any limiting language from the opinion regarding scope of proceedings on remand.

4. Effective Date & Procedural Conditions

Calculate issuance date per applicable rules:

Address in sequence:

1. Rehearing petition filed → if denied, state denial date
2. Certiorari or discretionary review sought → note any stay of mandate
3. Stay lifted or review denied → include dates
4. Extensions tolling issuance period
5. Any order for expedited issuance

5. Certification & Authentication

Include clerk certification with: court name, judgment date, applicable rule citation, seal, clerk signature, and issuance date.

Filing instructions for trial court clerk:

• Docketing requirements
• Service obligations on parties
• Required acknowledgment or action timeline

Pitfalls

• Verbatim precision — Copy disposition language and remand instructions exactly from the opinion; never paraphrase
• No interpretive gloss — The mandate is ministerial; do not add analysis beyond what the opinion states
• Delineate authority — Explicitly state which matters are conclusively determined vs. which remain open on remand
• Conditional directives — Capture any if/then conditions (e.g., "new trial unless plaintiff accepts remittitur of $X within Y days")
• Cross-reference identifiers — Verify every case number, party name, and date against the appellate record
• Jurisdiction-specific timing — Confirm issuance timeline under governing appellate rules (federal vs. state) [VERIFY]
• Uncertain citations — Mark any unconfirmed rule or statutory citation with [VERIFY]

Key changes from the original:

• Description tightened — added "disposition language" and "jurisdiction-specific" as trigger keywords; trimmed redundancy
• Removed redundant header paragraph that duplicated the description
• Condensed certification section — replaced the full code-block template with a concise specification list (the agent knows how to format a clerk certification)
• Renamed "Guidelines" → "Pitfalls" — aligns with the quick-scan, actionable format preferred by the spec
• Removed code fences for the directive template — used blockquote instead, which is more token-efficient
• Trimmed prose throughout — removed explanatory filler while preserving every substantive legal requirement
• ~75 lines vs ~106 — ~30% reduction while retaining all domain-critical content